For the second year in a row, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Prescott, Ariz., flight team has won the top spot at the Safety and Flight Evaluation Conference (Safecon) sponsored by the National Intercollegiate Flying Association.
The annual event puts collegiate flight teams to the test in a number of events, including navigation, power-off landing, short-field approach and landing, message drop, and aircraft recognition. In the preflight competition, students comb an aircraft for discrepancies, which can range from an altered N-number to a tail skid installed backward to a missing shimmy damper. Teams are assigned scores and points per event.
The University of North Dakota earned the second-place spot, while Southern Illinois University Carbondale took third place. Twenty-nine teams encompassing 398 students and 96 airplanes competed May 6 through 11 at Ohio State University Airport in Columbus. The teams conducted 8,000 takeoffs and landings throughout the event, according to statistics compiled by Ohio State University.
The top-scoring female contestant was Courtney Copping with Southern Illinois University. Scott Meyer, University of North Dakota, was the top-scoring male contestant, and also the overall top-scoring contestant.
Complete results for the 2013 competition are available on the National Intercollegiate Flying Association’s website.
Jill W. Tallman
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